Tequila Sunrise: The Story of the Definitive Rock and Roll Cocktail

The Rock ‘n Rollin Tequila Sunrise, a drink with history. Photo: Shutterstock/Elena Veselova

The tequila sunrise is a cocktail perhaps less synonymous with its actual ingredients than it is with its cultural blueprint. It’s a name that conjures up images of fast and loose music, movies and drunken antics from the 1970s and 80s.

That reputation was cemented at the Trident in Sausalito, California, where bartenders Bobby Lozoff and Billy Rice invented the modern iteration of the cocktail sometime around 1970. Tequila, orange juice and grenadine – what’s not to like?

As fate would have it, the Rolling Stones held a private party at the Trident in 1972 and fell in love with the cocktail (depending on who you ask, it was either Mick Jagger or Keith Richards who had the influential first sip). Famously, they would go on to request that drink at bars all across the country during their next tour, later dubbing the tour itself the “cocaine and tequila sunrise tour.”

Never one to let a marketing opportunity slip through their fingers, Jose Cuervo emblazoned the recipe on the back of their bottles in 1973.

Within the span of three years, the cocktail went from being invented to being cemented as a cultural icon.

Today, we have songs named “Tequila Sunrise” by everyone from the Eagles to Cypress Hill, and even a 1988 romantic crime drama starring Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer.

So what of the drink itself?

Here we present the recipe, along with a recipe to make your own homemade grenadine if you feel like giving it an extra blast of pomegranate.

Tequila Sunrise

Ingredients

• 2 oz Tequila Blanco
• 4 oz Orange Juice
• 1/2 oz Grenadine

Directions

1. Shake tequila and orange juice in a shaker with ice, around 30 seconds. Pour into a highball glass (or other tall glass of your choice).
2. Pour in grenadine slowly along the side of the glass. Since grenadine is thicker, it’ll settle on the bottom and create the iconic orange and red “tequila sunrise effect.”
3. Garnish with an orange wheel!

Homemade Grenadine

Ingredients

• 2 cups Pomegranate Juice
• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• 2 dashes Orange Flower Water

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine pomegranate juice and sugar. Bring to a slow boil and stir constantly until all the sugar is dissolved.
2. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, removing the lid occasionally to stir.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Add 2 dashes of orange flower water and you’re all done! Store in a decanter or vessel with a tight-sealing lid.

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